


the boy who waited

by Ellieb3an



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Getting Together, M/M, Miya Atsumu is a disaster, takes place when Hinata goes back to Brazil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26021506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellieb3an/pseuds/Ellieb3an
Summary: ...and waited and waited.It’s like he’s been dropped back into a moment from the past: Miya Atsumu on the other side of a barrier between them, standing proud and tall and so sure of himself even as Shouyou is moving onto the next thing and he is not. He points at Shouyou and makes a new declaration this time.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 79
Kudos: 441





	1. the boy who waited

It all starts with Miya Osamu’s big dumb mouth.

He should have minded his own business. Really, he should have. He normally _would_ have, but one too many drinks at the Black Jackals’ party to celebrate their V.League Championship win loosens his tongue a little too much. At some point while Atsumu is off moving around the room like the world’s most obnoxious social butterfly, Osamu ends up sitting beside his brother’s not-quite-boyfriend.

Tonight’s the night, Atsumu told him earlier. The night he will finally fess up to the crush that Hinata would have to be blind to not know already. Even if he’s been his usual pain-in-the-ass self, Atsumu is practically vibrating with anxious nerves tonight. And for some reason, when he catches Hinata smiling softly in Atsumu’s direction, Osamu feels compelled to say something about it.

Because he’s certain that Hinata has feelings for Atsumu… but he’s also certain that Atsumu has fallen faster and harder than it’s maybe fair to expect from Hinata as well. 

Plus there’s something flighty about Hinata Shouyou, and it’s not his 350 cm jump reach. He seems like he’s always got his eye on the next thing, ready to spring to action and go where the wind takes him. And Atsumu? He’s a firmly rooted tree in some ways.

It worries Osamu sometimes.

So his concern and the alcohol embolden him to lean toward Hinata—still smiling like a dope at Atsumu getting into some taunt with Sakusa—and say, “Y’know he’s really serious about ya, right?”

The red of Hinata’s flushed cheeks spreads all the way to his ears as he turns wide eyes on Osamu. 

“Tsumu ain’t serious about much. Just volleyball and you. And yeah, he’s an ass, but I think that just means it’s an even bigger deal to him—the way he feels about you and all that. Just… don’t forget it.”

The silence that follows is brief but awkward, and Osamu sips his beer for an excuse to look away from Hinata, who appears entirely dumbstruck as he opens his mouth a couple times to speak but then snaps it shut instead. If he has any sort of response coming, it’s blocked by Atsumu showing up to whisk him away for the night. 

Osamu is kind of glad for it. 

“I’m gonna make sure Shouyou-kun gets home safe,” he announces cheerfully, pulling Hinata to his feet.

Hinata doesn’t meet Osamu’s eyes once through saying his goodbyes, but it’s the next morning when Osamu really comes to regret that he said anything at all. 

Atsumu shows up at his door looking more miserable than he can ever remember.

***

_Miya Atsumu (22:13:52): Can I give you a ride to the airport?_

Shouyou breathes a sigh of relief when he receives the text message.

He leaves for Brazil tomorrow and has been hoping Atsumu would see him off, but he's hesitated asking. After all, what right does he have to ask him anything after dropping the news on him the same night Osamu made Atsumu's feelings very clear.

_Tsumu ain’t serious about much. Just volleyball and you._

Shouyou had been sitting on the news for a while at that point, never knowing when the right moment was to tell his teammates that with the season ending and contracts due to be renewed, he'd decided that his would not be one of them. But what Osamu said made him realize he couldn't leave Atsumu hanging any longer.

And Atsumu didn’t take it well. 

He pretended to, of course—wished him luck and smiled bright—but Shouyou could read the disappointment in his face. And after all the time he thought they’d been growing closer, Atsumu pulled back. 

No more asking for Shouyou to grab a bite to eat with him. No more evenings sitting close on a couch wondering if Atsumu was thinking about kissing Shouyou the same way Shouyou was thinking about kissing him. No more texting into the early hours of the morning after he went home. And it hurt, but Shouyou understood. 

There are reasons he considered staying. The comfort of being home and near his family. The ease of fitting into this team with people he enjoys. The way Atsumu's smile is the last thing he thinks of before he falls asleep. 

But in the end, volleyball is leading him back Brazil, and he has to follow.

He’s not so sure what he and Atsumu are— _were_ —or what his being on the other side of the world would mean for that . But Shouyou gets that text message from Atsumu offering to drive him to the airport and lies in bed holding the phone to his chest for a solid ten minutes. He breathes that sigh of relief, and then his stomach promptly twists itself into knots.

He’s moving back to Brazil. And Atsumu will be his last goodbye before he goes.

***

“Take care of yerself, Shouyou-kun.”

Atsumu says it with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, so Shouyou hugs him tight rather than look at it.

“You too,” he says softly, most likely lost beneath the cacophony of sounds of people bustling from one checkpoint to the next, the squealing wheels of a luggage cart, flight announcements called out through the PA system. 

They stand still with the world moving all around them for a few minutes, but Shouyou just blocks it all out memorizing the feel of Atsumu’s arms around him and Atsumu’s chest against his cheek and Atsumu’s fingers grasping at the fabric of his jacket. 

He wishes Atsumu would ask him to stay. He wouldn’t stay, of course—he _couldn’t_ —but a selfish part of him wants Atsumu to ask so he knows he wants him to. So he can suggest they’ll make it work long distance.

Atsumu doesn’t ask. Shouyou doesn’t suggest it.

Atsumu’s fingers uncurl slowly from his jacket, and he steps back with a sigh, nodding in the direction of the security check line. “Yer gonna be late if ya don’t get movin’. Let us all know when ya get there safe, alright?” 

“Right,” Shouyou agrees, adjusting the position of his carry-on bag over his shoulder as he glances at the security check. “Thank you, Atsumu-san. For everything.”

Atsumu scratches the back of his head and looks like he has more to say but settles for, “Don’t mention it.”

Shouyou steps into line for fifteen excruciating minutes that Atsumu stays, waiting from his spot against the wall instead of just leaving, and Shouyou tries not to look too much. It’s not until he finally gets waved forward through the doorway that he hears Atsumu’s voice again.

“Hinata Shouyou!”

Shouyou’s heartbeat picks up and he whirls around to face his friend/former teammate/maybe-almost lover.

And it’s like he’s been dropped back into a moment from the past: Miya Atsumu on the other side of a barrier between them, standing proud and tall and so sure of himself even as Shouyou is moving onto the next thing and he is not. He points at Shouyou and makes a new declaration this time.

“One day, I’m gonna marry you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Atsumu waits and spirals until he can hear Hinata's reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the wait on this chapter. It's honestly been written for a while but there were a couple spots I was iffy on and then atsuhina exchange going on and I decided to wait to update this until after that.

“He just  _ stood there _ , Samu! He didn’t say  _ anything. _ And then someone bumped into him and he apologized— _ to them! _ —and turned around to hand over his bag! Without saying anything!”

Osamu sighs, leaning on the counter and setting his chin in his hand as he watches another customer wrap up their meal too soon and scurry out the door. “So ya said the first five times ya told the story.”

Atsumu sits in the stool opposite him, face planted on the counter, which he hasn’t moved from for a good thirty minutes now since slinking into the restaurant like some kind of wounded animal looking for a place to die. “I’m completely mortified,” he whines. “What if he never speaks to me again?”

Maybe Osamu should just put him out of his misery.

There’s a timer counting down on the lockscreen of Atsumu’s phone, and Osamu doesn’t need to ask what it’s for, doesn’t need to ask about flight schedules or if Atsumu looked up Hinata’s flight. 

_ 26 hours and 43 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil… _

***

Food won’t cure Atsumu’s meltdown tonight, because he won’t eat anything Osamu offers, even as he insists on sitting here  _ in his restaurant _ scaring off customers for hours. When closing time comes, Osamu can’t get him out of there soon enough. He herds him along to his apartment above the shop, where Atsumu resumes to flop bonelessly on his couch. 

Since food won’t fix this, Osamu offers beer instead, but Atsumu stares despondently at the bottle in his hands.

“Samu, what if he  _ never _ comes back from Brazil now?”

Fuck, it’s going to be a long night.

_ 25 hours and 8 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

Several beers and hours later, and Atsumu is now on his fifth retelling of all the things that make Hinata Shouyou the perfect volleyball partner and romantic partner and every other kind of partner he can think of. Osamu has heard it all before, of course, but now they’re told like it’s a eulogy to all of Atsumu’s hopes and dreams gone down the toilet.

Osamu sends a text message to his manager Hatori to ask him to come in on his day off to run the shop tomorrow.  _ Family emergency _ , he writes, because it’s true even if it’s stupid.

He feels jealous of Hinata on the other side of the world right now.

_ 23 hours and 42 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

The clock ticks closer to two in the morning, and Atsumu’s moping seems more sedate with beer and a need for sleep. Osamu watches him refresh Hinata’s social media for the hundredth time on his phone and declares it time for bed as he unrolls a futon for Atsumu. There aren’t much more dramatics for the night, and Osamu starts to drift off despite Atsumu’s pitiful sighs and whines. But then...

“I didn’t even mean it like that,” Atsumu says as Osamu is on the verge of sleep. “I just said it without thinking.”

“Seems to be a common occurrence for you, so I’m not surprised.”

_ 21 hours and 18 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“I’ve never even kissed him yet.”

“Sounds like he got away just in time then.”

_ 21 hours and 16 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“I  _ am _ in love with him though,” Atsumu says. “I mean, not enough to go proposin’ right now, but enough to propose someday.”

Osamu groans.

“Now I’ll never get to.” 

Osamu covers his own head with his pillow.

_ 21 hours and 15 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“They were wrong when they said it’s better to have loved and lost.”

And Osamu has had enough. He chucks a pillow at Atsumu. “Go. To. Sleep. Or shut up and let  _ me. _ ”

“But—”

“No! Sleep. Now. Or I will literally throw you out of here. Through the window.”

Atsumu grumbles something under his breath but he rolls over and shuts up.

_ 21 hours and 13 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

The one good thing to come out of Atsumu’s late night rambling is that he tires himself out enough to sleep straight through until early afternoon. 

Osamu wakes first around ten and carefully creeps past the futon, where Atsumu is sprawled out and drooling, to enjoy the calm of a quiet apartment. He brews himself a pot of coffee and mentally prepares for wave two of Atsumu’s meltdown.

Hinata still won’t be on land until late tonight, so there will be plenty of it ahead. Not sure if he can handle it on his own the entire day, Osamu calls in the reinforcements, sending out an SOS to a few of their friends with the offer of free food and beer.

When he goes to check on Atsumu a while later, he’s just lying awake on his futon and staring miserably at the ceiling.

“Hey Samu? Did Hinata go to Brazil yesterday?”

Osamu sighs. “Yup.”

“Did I tell him I was gonna marry him?”

“Sure did.”

“...Thought so.”

_ 11 hours and 27 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“Oh man, this is kind of pathetic, huh?” Bokuto says with eyes wide as he arrives with Akaashi in tow.

He doesn’t mean it to be rude, just a statement of fact upon seeing the pale ghost of Miya Atsumu staring down into the beer he’s nursing. 

“How’re doing there, buddy?”

Atsumu sighs woefully. “Just dying probably.”

Akaashi shares a concerned look with Osamu in the kitchen. “When you told Bokuto-san he was a mess, I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Did Hinata break up with him?”

“They weren’t dating yet,” Osamu says while digging through his fridge.

“Of course they are,” Bokuto insists. “Everyone knows they’re dating.”

This must be the wrong thing to say, because Atsumu buries his face in his hands and groans like he really is dying. 

Bokuto’s jaw drops. “Wait, you mean he  _ did _ dump you?! I thought he would have at least  _ tried _ long distance. Oh man, Tsum-Tsum, that’s rough. I can’t believe the Jackals’ power couple split!”

“He didn’t get dumped,” Osamu says. “They were never actually dating because they’re  _ both morons _ .”

He pushes a beer across the counter to Akaashi, and their fingers brush for a moment before Akaashi turns red and pulls his hand away. (Akaashi is always getting bashful around Osamu like that, though Bokuto thinks Osamu has always been friendly enough toward him.)

Akaashi clears his throat. “So then what happened?”

“Well, Tsumu decided to confess his feelings…”

_ 10 hours and 48 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

Sakusa is preparing his lunch when he sees the notification from Bokuto pop up on his phone.

_ Bokuto Koutarou: TSUM-TSUM CRISIS ALERT! Hanging out at Myaa-Sam’s place to cheer him up! You should come! _

Sure that whatever the mystery crisis is, he will not be going anywhere near it, Sakusa silences his phone.

_ 10 hours and 37 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

Video games can only do so much to keep Atsumu from spiraling when he can’t seem to muster up the will energy to even try. They’re on their fourth round of Smash Bros, but Atsumu hasn’t won a single one. And he  _ never _ loses to Bokuto.

Osamu and Akaashi have settled into quieter conversation in the kitchen, so it’s up to Bokuto to cheer Tsum-Tsum up for now.

“Hey, you win the next one, and I’ll bet Hinata returns your feelings!” he suggests as they choose their characters. 

Atsumu perks up a little at that, glares at him out of the corner of his eyes. It’s a shadow of his usual competitive sneer, but at least it’s something.

...Too bad he loses that round too, even against Bokuto’s button-mashing worst, and the loss is more than he can take as he lets the controller fall from his hands and hangs his head in shame.

_ 8 hours and 22 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

It is Aran’s lot in life that he will always be dragged into the Miyas’ dramas, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, especially not himself, that he ends up at Osamu’s place that evening to witness the the last of Atsumu’s dignity spiraling down the drain.

_ I need backup,  _ Osamu’s text message to Aran and Kita says.  _ Tsumu needs someone to talk some sense into him. _ And against his better judgment, Aran goes because if Osamu is actually reaching out for  _ help _ for Atsumu, it’s bad. 

He’s welcomed into the apartment by a familiar guy that he can’t quite place—dark hair, glasses,  _ not  _ Osamu—but the sound of arguing going on behind him cuts off a proper introduction.

“No, I have to go there and talk to him in person so he understands!”

Atsumu has a laptop open in front of him at the kitchen counter and a few empty beers surrounding it as he frantically taps at the keyboard. Osamu stands beside him, dragging his hand down his own face in exasperation. Meanwhile, Atsumu’s Black Jackals teammate Bokuto leans in over his shoulder to see the computer screen, completely unaffected by the twins’ arguing around him.

“You don’t even have a passport!”

“I’ll figure it out!”

“Tsumu, this is the dumbest idea you’ve had tonight. And that includes proposing in the middle of an airport.”

Aran drops the bag Kita sent him with. “Atsumu did  _ what _ ?!”

_ 4 hours and 57 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“I’m gonna text him and tell him it was a big practical joke,” Atsumu blurts out desperately, reaching for his phone, but Aran is quick to snatch it off the coffee table before he can get to it.

“Would ya just get a hold of yerself? How would that help at all?”

Bokuto nods sagely. “Yeah, that’s not a very funny joke, Tsum-Tsum. Were you trying to hurt Hinata’s feelings?”

“What’re ya talking about?” Atsumu snaps, sounding honestly offended at the suggestion. “It wasn’t  _ actually _ a joke.”

“Then why would you say that?” Bokuto asks, tilting his head owlishly. 

Aran holds Atsumu’s phone out of reach as he makes another grab for it, and he regrets all his life choices. Apparently there is a more exhausting combination than the Miya twins.

_ 4 hours and 19 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

Atsumu has curled his knees up to himself on the couch, sulking with his arms folded over them like a pillow. “I can’t believe I actually proposed to him.”

“Sounds like it was more of a wedding announcement to me,” Akaashi says. “You may have come on a little strong.”

“That’s what I said,” Osamu agrees, shaking his head as if he can feel Atsumu’s embarrassment.  _ Maybe he can, _ Akaashi considers and files away for later.

Aran somehow looks both exasperated and sympathetic. “It’s not the kinda thing ya say to a guy you haven’t even taken on a first date.”

“I thought they went on tons of dates,” Bokuto points out. “Turns out I was wrong, though.”

Atsumu groans into his arms, and Bokuto just laughs good-naturedly while trying to coerce a game controller into his hand for more video games.

_ 3 hours and 16 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“Everyone around was just staring at me. It was the single most humiliating moment of my life.”

“Nah, you’ve totally had worse!” Bokuto says helpfully. “Remember when the internet thought you were a furry because you wore Jackasuke’s costume?”

“They still think that,” Akaashi adds.

Bokuto laughs. “See! And Hinata still liked you fine after that!”

“What if I just text him and tell him it’s okay if he doesn’t love me back even if I can’t help the way I feel?”

Aran, still in possession of Atsumu’s phone, delivers a firm “no” with a chop to Atsumu’s shoulder when he reaches for it anyway. “You’ll be embarrassing yerself a whole lot worse, if you do.”

Osamu breathes a sigh of relief while letting Aran and Bokuto manage Atsumu for the moment. 

Beside him, Akaashi is cutely munching on some leftover onigiri that Osamu retrieved from the store kitchen. “How long do you think he’ll keep this up?”

“Until Hinata responds to him,” Osamu guesses (correction: knows—there is no end to Atsumu’s propensity for being dramatic). “Hopefully not longer than that or else he’s on his own.”

Though his smile is hidden in the next bite he takes, Akaashi’s eyes crinkle with amusement as if to say ‘sure he is.’ 

_ 2 hours and 56 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

“You know what?” Atsumu says, all false bravado and determination as he shoots to his feet. He’s spent the better part of the last hour moping on his corner of the couch, ignoring the company around him as the clock ticked closer to Hinata’s answer. Bokuto is curious what realization came out of all the thinking that looked like it probably hurt, if the look on Atsumu’s face was anything to go by. 

Atsumu points his own thumb into his chest and declares, “I’m a  _ catch _ . He should totally want to marry me.” 

Everyone is silent for a moment, but when it’s clear from the way he stands there staring at them that he’s expecting a response— _ agreement _ —Bokuto takes pity on him, reaching out to pat him on the back. “You sure are, buddy.”

Considering how Atsumu drops back into his seat with an anguished groan, it doesn’t really have the placating effect he was going for.

_ 1 hour and 39 minutes until Hinata lands in Brazil... _

***

The phone is still in Aran’s possession when the timer goes off, and the room goes still as he silences it and gingerly sets it upon the coffee table.

Which leads to five grown men crowding around a cell phone, none making a sound or a move or even taking a breath too deeply as if they might stop a message or a call from arriving if they did. It goes on for a minute. Two.

Then Osamu huffs and leans back in his seat. 

“He probably won’t be able to send a message straight away after landing,” Akaashi says, in agreement with Osamu’s vague huff. “We could be waiting a—”

_ buzz buzz buzz _

Osamu shoots forward again, shoulder to shoulder with his brother, who has gone completely rigid, aside from one shaking hand reaching out for the phone.

_ 1 New Message from Shouyou-kun _

“Someone else look,” Atsumu says, covering his face with one hand as he pushes the phone away blindly. “I don’t think I can handle it.”

Bokuto pats him on the shoulder. “I’ve got you, Tsum-Tsum.”

As Osamu and the others wait to hear Atsumu’s fate, the seconds it takes for Bokuto to grab the phone and take a look are the longest by far since Atsumu first collapsed into his stool the day earlier. 

Bokuto narrows his eyes at the phone screen as if scrutinizing Hinata’s words, but after a moment says, “Oh boy. He said—”

“Nonono wait!” Atsumu cries, leaping across the table to snatch the phone out of Bokuto’s hands, but Bokuto raises the phone high about his head with a sly grin. “I can’t have it come from  _ you _ .”

“I haven’t even looked yet!” he laughs and tosses the phone back to Atsumu, who fumbles with it before finally catching it. 

He glares at Bokuto while swiping up on the screen. He doesn’t look down.

“C’mon, what’s it say?” Osamu asks. “Are ya really too chicken to read it?”

“Yes!” Atsumu snaps. “No! Shuddup! Stop crowdin’ me!”

He bolts to his feet and paces along the space between the living room and kitchen, phone still held at his side, screen still lit up with the unread message.

“Wouldja just look at it already?” Osamu demands with exasperation. “The suspense is killin’ me almost as bad as dealin’ with you the past 24—” ( _ 27 _ ) “—hours has been.”

Atsumu sneers at him, but his hand shakes at his side as he visibly steels himself to look at the stupid phone. Then he whips around, back to everyone as he finally does it. 

The tension in his shoulders remains as he reads, and then a blush creeps up the back of his neck and his ears. After a moment he covers his face in one hand and still doesn’t turn back to them.

Osamu, for once, isn’t sure how to read this reaction, but Hinata Shouyou seems to often pull those unexpected reactions out of Atsumu.

“Tsum-Tsum?” 

When Atsumu doesn’t respond, Osamu gets up to cross the room to him. He sets a hand on Atsumu’s shoulder. “What’s it say?”

Atsumu doesn’t uncover his face, just holds out the phone for Osamu to see for himself.

It’s not some novel-length message carefully crafted over the course of a full day (and then some) spent in flight. Just a simple sentence.

_ Shouyou-kun: It’s a good thing I already know you keep your promises ;) _

***

“Hey Samu.” Atsumu’s voice has that giddy, childish tone it always takes when he sees a particularly cool volleyball play and gets way too excited about it. Full of wonder and joy and a promise that he’s about to start driving Osamu crazy. “Does this mean… am I  _ engaged _ ? Hinata Atsumu...”

Maybe someone should just put Osamu out of his misery.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos/comments are always appreciated :)
> 
> Next chapter: Atsumu's 28-hour spiral while he (and friends) wait for Hinata's reply.


End file.
